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Media training within brands not good enough, says IDComms survey

Less than one in ten senior brand and media agency marketers thinks that media training within brands is up to scratch, according to a new survey by ID Comms.

The marketing consultancy ID Comms’ 2016 Training Survey found that 9.4% of advertisers and agencies worldwide believe that current media programmes are satisfactory.

The report found that 60% of those surveyed gave lack of financial support as the reason for a lack of media training, while 27% blamed a lack of time.

ID Comms surveyed 117 senior executives at agencies and advertisers, including marketers from brands which spend about $20bn (£16.4bn) on media each year and responses from all the major media agency networks.

There were also key differences between the two sides on the areas of training that would bring most benefit. Advertisers picked "media ROI" (14%), "KPI setting" (13.5%) and "briefing and evaluating" (12%) as their most critical areas while agencies named "paying for agency services" (11%), "media ROI" (12%) and "KPI setting" (10.5%) as their top three.

The findings are due to be discussed at an invitation-only event, hosted by ID Comms in London, on 10 November.

Tom Denford, chief strategy officer at ID Comms, said: "Recent concerns over trust and transparency in the media landscape have highlighted the risks to brands of not having up-to-date knowledge and skills in media.

"Brands can no longer simply rely on agencies to provide free training but must take active steps to improve their own skills and commit to a programme of continuous media education.

"Training is one key tool to upgrading that internal capability, alongside recruitment, but while many recognise the benefits that better media understanding could bring to their business in a fast changing media landscape, collectively brands are failing to invest enough time and money in media training."